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Toggl Desktop App

The Toggl desktop app brings your full Toggl 2.0 workspace to Mac and Windows as a native application.

Installation & Setup

Features

The desktop app includes all features available in the web app. The following desktop-native features are also available:

Quick actions from the taskbar / dock

Start, stop, or continue a timer directly from the app icon in your taskbar (Windows) or dock (Mac) — no need to open the full app window.

Menu bar (Mac)

On Mac, open profile settings, select Desktop, then Menu bar. Choose what the menu bar shows while you track:

  • Show running entry on menu bar. You can include the timer, seconds, the project, and the task name.
  • Show today total on menu bar. You can include seconds.

Today total counts only the part of a time entry that falls on today. When an entry runs past midnight, only the time after midnight counts toward today.

When the desktop app has no internet connection, the Mac menu bar keeps showing the last running entry or today total. The menu shows No internet connection, and the timer actions are turned off until the connection is back. On Windows, the tray menu does the same: it shows No internet connection and turns off start, stop, and continue. Timer actions in the Mac dock menu are turned off while offline as well.  

Global Shortcuts

Control time tracking from anywhere on your system without switching windows. Assign custom keyboard shortcuts to three actions: Show/Hide Toggl, Start/Stop Timer, and Continue/Stop Timer. Shortcuts work system-wide on macOS and Windows, even when Toggl 2.0 is running in the background or minimised.

To set up your shortcuts:

  1. Open the Toggl desktop app and go to Settings
  2. Select Global Shortcuts
  3. Click Record shortcut next to the action you want to configure and press your desired key combination
  4. To remove a shortcut, click the X next to it

Smart Suggestions

The desktop app learns from your tracking history and suggests the most likely task when you open it, so you can start logging time in one click.

How to enable

  1. Open the Toggl desktop app
  2. Go to Settings in the left nav bar
  3. Scroll to Desktop Settings > Smart Suggestions
  4. Agree to local data processing, then toggle Enable Smart Suggestions on

Using suggestions

  • When starting a timer, click the calendar-with-star icon next to the task name field and select the relevant suggestion
  • Inside any task modal, the same icon surfaces a list of suggested entries that will pre-fill the duration

What it needs to work well

Suggestions improve over time as the model learns your patterns. To get better results: assign projects consistently, add task names to your entries, and track regularly. If you've just started using Toggl or have limited history, suggestions may initially be sparse or less accurate.

Privacy

All processing happens entirely on your device. Your tracking data is never uploaded to Toggl's servers for ML purposes, no third-party AI services are involved, and Toggl does not use your data to train any centralised models. You remain in full control at all times.

The model uses two local sources to generate suggestions: your time entry history (projects, tasks, tags, durations) and your active application and window titles.

Excluding apps from tracking

If there are applications you'd prefer not to be tracked:

  1. Go to Settings > Desktop Settings > Smart Suggestions
  2. Check the box next to any app you want to exclude

Note: apps only appear in this list once they've been active on your machine. If the list appears empty, open and use the app for a few seconds, then return to settings.

Auto-Tracker

Automatically starts and stops your timer based on which application or window is active — so you spend less time managing your timer manually. Available on all plans.

How to enable

  1. Open the Toggl desktop app and open your profile settings.

  2. Under Desktop, select Autotracker.

  3. Turn on Enable autotracker.

Setting up tracking rules

Each rule matches an app or window title, then starts a time entry.

To create a rule:

  1. Select Add tracking rule.
  2. Under When app or window contains, enter the keyword to match (for example Figma or Roadmap). Matching uses the app name and the window title.
  3. Under Match using, choose one:
    • Exact phrase — the app name or window title must contain the keyword as one phrase.
    • All words (any order) — every word in the keyword must appear in the app name or window title. Order does not matter.
  4. Under Track as, choose what the time entry is logged against:
    • a task assigned to you
    • a project
    • a new task: type the name and choose New task
  5. Under Description (optional), add the description the time entry should use. If you also chose a task or project, the entry gets both.
  6. Set the two switches:
    • Trigger even when a timer is already running — on switches the running timer to this rule’s entry.
    • Start timer without asking — on starts tracking immediately. Off asks you first.
  7. Select Save.

Save stays off until the rule has a keyword and at least one of a task, a project, or a description. A description on its own is enough: leave Track as empty, fill in Description, and the rule starts a time entry with that description and no task or project. If a task is missing from the list, assign it to yourself.

Additional settings

  • Stop timer when no activity matches rules — automatically stops the timer when you switch to a window that doesn't match any rule. Useful if you want tracking to be strictly rule-bound
  • Only track after app is active for — sets how long a window must be active before the timer starts. Default is 5 seconds; increase this to avoid false starts from quick tab switches

Privacy

Auto-Tracker reads active window and application titles on your device to match against your rules. This processing happens locally. Window data is used only to trigger your rules — it is not sent to Toggl's servers.

Reminders

Stay on top of your time tracking with desktop notifications that appear whenever you don't have a running timer.

How to enable

  1. Open the Toggl desktop app
  2. Go to Settings > Reminders
  3. Reminders are disabled by default — toggle them on to get started

Configuring your reminders Once enabled, you have three options to customise how and when you're notified:

  • Reminder interval — set how frequently you want to be reminded. The notification only fires if there is no running timer at that moment. Example: set to every 15 minutes, and you'll get a nudge every 15 minutes you're not tracking.
  • Active time window — choose a start and end time (e.g. 9:00am to 6:00pm) to limit reminders to your working hours.
  • Active days — select the specific days of the week reminders should apply to.

Responding to a reminder Click the notification to bring Toggl 2.0 to the foreground instantly from any screen, or dismiss it to close without opening the app. Reminders will continue to fire at your set interval for as long as no timer is running within your configured window.

Note: Reminders only work while the desktop app is running.

Idle Detection

When you step away from your computer, the app detects inactivity and prompts you to discard or adjust the idle time. This keeps your time entries accurate without manual correction after the fact.

Updates & Maintenance

  • When a new version is available, you'll see a prompt in the bottom-right corner of the app to restart and update. If the prompt doesn't appear, reinstalling from the download link above will get you to the latest version.